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45.000 contributions to the consultation on organic farming in Europe

11/04/2013

45 000 responses have been submitted to the online questionnaire on the future of organic farming in Europe launched by the European Commission on 15 January, and which ended yesterday.

96% of the contributions are from citizens. In addition, about 1600 free contributions from citizens, associations, public authorities or companies have been received. All answers and contributions will now be analysed to feed the ongoing review of the political and legal framework for organic agriculture in Europe, which aims at defining legislative and political orientations for organic farming in the next years.

Opening a meeting of the enlarged Advisory Group on Organic Farming, a stakeholders group dedicated to the review of the organic policy, Commissioner Dacian Cioloş said: "this success demonstrates that citizens have high expectations for organic agriculture. The organic sector is at a crossroads, facing important decisions for its future. Citizens increasingly see it as a benchmark for sustainable production and this provides real scope for the sector's growth. The challenge will be to meet the demand without losing the value of the sector and the level of standards but strengthening the link of trust with consumers”.